


The Boy in the Graveyard

by TheCasualAuthor



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Ghosts, Halloween, M/M, Prompt Fic, Spooky, Tumblr Prompt, graveyards
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 18:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21258005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCasualAuthor/pseuds/TheCasualAuthor
Summary: Richie meets a strange kid in the Graveyard.Tumblr prompt fill for this prompt: "Wait, why does this grave have your name on it?"





	The Boy in the Graveyard

For the past five years, it’s been Halloween tradition for Richie to go and spend the evening at the graveyard with his best friend, Bev. Even though she’s out of town this year, that’s not stopping Richie from going anyway. So, once the sun has gone down, he kisses his mom’s cheek and heads out to the land of the dead.

Most people are, with good reason, a little frightened by graveyards in the pitch black night. Richie figures there must be something wrong with him, because being there, even all by himself, is no less comforting to him than being inside his own house. He finds it rather soothing, really, the quiet of the graveyard.

Besides, he’s 17, and it’s 1993 for chrissakes. The days of thinking zombies can dig themselves out of their grave for their great vengeance on Halloween are over.

A few others are hanging around, all with larger groups of friends, no one else seeming to brave the old cemetery on their own. Richie shuffles along to the back of the lot, where him and Bev usually go, because no one else ever head back there. In the back he can barely here the groups of friends talking loudly, and the cars from the road are almost soundless. He finds a sturdy old headstone and sits down next to it, leaning back on it without thinking about whether that’s disrespectful or not.

Fishing his pack of smokes out of his pocket, he lights one up and sighs a breath into the cooling night air. The sky is totally clear tonight, and he can see every single star adorning the great nothing above him. He spends his time doing just that, inspecting the beauty of the night sky as it twinkles overhead.

He’s broken out of his spell when he hears a loud shriek from across the graveyard, followed by boisterous laughter. He figures it’s one of the group of friends, and thinks nothing of it until a minute later when he realizes everything is suddenly totally quiet. He can no longer hear the vague noise of cars driving by the cemetery, and the voices of people have disappeared.

Frowning, Richie sits up. He peers around, trying to spot where the other people who had just been in here with him have gone. He can’t see anything, however, because the entire graveyard has suddenly filled with thick, white fog, appearing out of nowhere from the looks of it, because a moment ago there had been nothing. Looking up at the sky, Richie comes to find that clouds have appeared above him, and not a single star is in sight anymore.

He gets to his feet, on the verge of creeped out. Richie doesn’t get scared, not really, his fears go far deeper than silly stuff like graveyards or the dark. But even he has to admit that weather change like that is highly unusual. He decides to go and find one of the group of friends, only to confirm to himself that they’re all still there so he can go back to his spot and relax again.

He heads over to where he can remember them sitting and is confused when he can’t find them. Strange, he thinks, though they probably just left, so he shrugs it off before walking further to see if he can spot the others, only to realize he can’t spot them either. Chuckling a little desperately to himself, he tries to write it off as them all leaving because of the fog or something, so he turns around to go back to his spot. He quickly realizes that the fog has grown so thick he has no idea whereabouts in the huge cemetery he’s even standing anymore.

“Fuck this,” he whispers to himself, deciding he’s had his fill of the cemetery for this Halloween. He turns around, about to try and find the way out of there, when someone is suddenly standing right there, as if they’ve been waiting right behind him for ages, but Richie hadn’t even sensed anyone walking up to him. He jumps at the sudden intrusion. “Holy shit!" 

The boy before him is small, smaller than Richie by almost a head. His hair is brown and short, styled neatly in a side part, and his brown eyes are wide and curious, looking up at Richie as if he’s something marvelous. “Can you see me?”

“Uh,” Richie utters. Is that a trick question? “Yes?”

The boy’s eyes widen impossibly further, and his lips break into a grin. Richie reluctantly smiles back. He feels his shoulders relax a little. The kid seems friendly enough, and he looks about Richie’s age. At least he’s no longer abandoned in the foggy graveyard.

“Are you here all alone?” the boy asks Richie, to which he nods. The boy’s voice turns slightly sharp, “Isn’t that a little strange? Lurking around on your own in a graveyard?”

“You’re one to talk,” Richie scoffs. “You’re here alone, too, aren’t you?”

The boy just hums, smiling delicately at Richie.

“Besides, I think strange activities such as lurking around gets a pass on Halloween, right?” Richie asks, grinning down at the boy as his eyes sparkle back up at him.

“It’s Halloween? I mean... right, I agree. I always loved Halloween, you know. Spooky things suddenly become so thrilling, instead of scary.”

“You speak the truth-” Richie’s about to give the boy a nickname when he realizes he doesn’t even have a real name for him, so he asks him just that. “What’s your name anyway?" 

The boy looks around, looking almost nervous to share it with Richie, as if he wasn’t the one to approach a complete stranger in a graveyard in the first place. Finally, he looks back at Richie with an almost confused frown.

“Edward… Eddie… Kaspbrak!”

The way he says it is strange, like he’s making the name up as he goes, and he says the surname as an afterthought, like it takes him by surprise.

“Ooo-kay,” Richie says, sticking his hand out. “Richie Tozier! At your service, m’boy, pleased to make your acquaintance Sir Eds-Spagheds.”

“That nickname is positively awful,” Eddie says, grinning, and reluctantly, he reaches forward to shake Richie’s hand, his hand ice cold from the chilly weather. As he does, he seems almost awestruck, as if shaking hands is a revelation to him. Richie decides he likes how easily impressed this kid is.

“Since we’re both alone on this wonderful All Hallow’s Eve, how about we spend it together instead? Unless you have somewhere to be?” Richie suggests, and he’s surprised to find he hopes Eddie says yes. Something about him has Richie intrigued, and it might have something to do with how cute he is, especially when he smiles.

“I’d love that,” Eddie says softly, and so spend it together they do.

It turns out Eddie knows the cemetery like the back of his hand, and he takes Richie around it like a professional tour guide. Richie hardly has time to notice that the fog has mysteriously cleared up. Eddie shows him different headstones, tells Richie grim stories of some of them died, even some from hundreds of years ago, making Richie assume he’s just making them up as they go in attempt to try and spook Richie.

“Frederick Grimsby, died 1889. It was pretty gruesome. He found out that his wife was cheating on him with his own boss from work, and she got so angry for it that she hacked at him with an axe,” Eddie tells this story like he’s talking about the weather. Richie chuckles nervously and elbows Eddie lightly.

“Quite the imagination you have there, Eds,” he says, which is something he never thought would leave his mouth because usually it’s himself who has the overactive imagination.

“Oh, sorry,” Eddie says, shaking his head and looking apologetic. “Am I freaking you out?”

“Me? Freaked out? No way, I’m having the greatest time. In fact, because of you, this the best Halloween ever,”

“Really?” Eddie asks skeptically.

“Really!”

Eddie still looks unconvinced but decides to change the subject. “Tell me about you, Richie. Do you go to school? What’s it like?”

So, Richie tells Eddie about school, about his grades, about his friends, about his enemies. He doesn’t know why but for some reason he feels like he can trust Eddie, and he had apparently needed a heart-to-heart because the next thing to spill out of his mouth is his best kept secret.

“I think I’m into dudes,”

There’s a bout of silence, and Richie’s sure he’s fucked up whatever this friendly thing going on between him and Eddie is.

Then Eddie says, “Oh?” and it’s so soft, and somehow so kind, and when Richie meets his eyes they’re so understanding, so Richie keeps going.

“I mean, I definitely like girls too, but I think I’ve known for a while that I see guys the same way. And it’s been a little hard because even if I tell my friends everything, I feel like I shouldn’t tell them that, so it’s like this part of me that’s always hidden, and I’m tired of that. Of hiding it.”

Richie jumps when he feels something cold envelop his hand but breaks into a surprised smile when he looks down and sees that it’s Eddie’s own.

“I’m your friend.” Eddie says resolutely. “And you told me.”

Richie smiles so hard his eyes both crinkle and well up.

“Yeah, I guess I did,” he says, and he swears just then he can feel a little bit of weight fly off his shoulders. “Thanks, Eddie.”

Eddie just smiles. As they continue walking, their hands stay entwined.

Richie feels nervous, suddenly, not because he’s uncomfortable with Eddie now, but because this suddenly feels like something more, even if he only just met this guy. He keeps his gaze on the headstones they pass, skimming the names of people he will never know. He stops short in his tracks as his eyes fall upon a familiar one.

_Edward Frank Kaspbrak_

_1960-1977_

_Eddie, a great friend and beloved son, shall be missed forever_

“Wait,” he says, reading the name on the simple, undecorated grave three times over to make sure he’s seeing straight. “Why does this grave have your name on it?”

Eddie’s cold hand slips out of his own, and Richie looks up from the grave to find him looking nervous. “Did you seriously steal a dead person’s name to give to me?”

“No!” Eddie, or whoever he is, says, shaking his head profusely, but he doesn’t come up with an explanation as to what’s going on either. It suddenly strikes Richie that despite everything he’s told Eddie about himself, Eddie has offered little to no information of his own. Feeling stupid, Richie inwardly chastises himself. That’s what you get for thinking the loner in the graveyard wants to be your friend, he supposes.

“So much for being my friend if you can’t even give me your real name,” Richie scoffs, taking a step back.

“It is my real name! You have to believe me, Richie,” Eddie pleads, but Richie has had enough.

“I’m going home,” he says with a shake of his head, muttering, “I can’t believe this. Have a nice life I guess.”

He hears Eddie yell his name, trying to muster up some sort of half assed explanation. “I don’t know what to tell you, Richie. I’m not lying to you, I swear. And I am your friend! I promise you!”

Richie continues walking, stopping only as he feels Eddie’s cold hand grab his once more. He pulls his hand back, not wanting the touch if Eddie can’t be honest with him. He turns back around to tell him as much, only to be met with thin air. Across the graveyard, the church bell rings to signalize the clock has struck midnight.

The sound of laughter from different groups of friends and the rumble of a lone truck driving by returns as if a bubble around Richie has burst.

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!
> 
> [Find me on tumblr to talk about Reddie and IT here :-)](https://richieidiot.tumblr.com)


End file.
